Monitor - a source of hacking ??

We have heard about Storage devices like HDDs and SSDs, RAM, which often contain crucial or personal data that have always been the target of spyware and malware and is definitely a matter of concern. It was uncovered that a hacker can hack your system through your Monitor, if it is not secured. Yes, malware can infect peripheral devices including the monitor.

  
We think of our monitors as passive entities. The computer sends them data, and they somehow—magically—turns it into pixels which make words and pictures but one must know that, your monitor might also be used against you.

 
Many embedded devices support firmware update capabilities, but they don't authenticate such updates; this allows adversaries to infect peripherals with malicious firmware

 
There is ardent need to check before one buys if it is a secure monitor or if there any security control is established to control the cyber-attack. When a hacker can get you to visit a malicious website or click on a phishing link, they can then target the monitor's embedded computer, specifically its firmware. This is the computer that controls the menu to change brightness and other simple settings on the monitor.

 
Security services and providers often focus on the computer itself when it comes to protection from breaches, hacks, and phishing. But on the other hand, peripherals do not even get a low-level security layer since the attention has always been on the PC’s internals.

 
Monitors often have a minor implementation to store data for menial purposes. However, this does not mean that it can store personal data from the machine itself, so it doesn’t present itself as a vulnerability to your cybersecurity.

 
The memory built into them is often used to control the monitor’s behaviour, such as remembering the OSD settings you’ve dialled in even if it is fully powered down. At that point, the hacker can mess with your monitor.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA